After lurking here off and on for some time, I decided it would be fun to join!
Not so much a collector as a “Playmobil dreamer”, I have fond memories of playing with the covered wagon and a handful of figures in the mid-eighties – I think they belonged to my younger sister. Today, I am the mother of two children, 6 and 3,5 years of age, and buy for them – as well as for my 7 year old niece who is a great fan. As my own kids (to my great disappointment) seem happier playing with less rather than more, however, I seem to be building up a bit of a stash (currently including the 4444 pirate ship which will probably be for my nephew when he is old enough, the forest lodge and ranger’s station, the dentist’s set, the family speed boat, the camper, the pool, the family van and boat etc…)… For my own part, I have the nativity which gets brought out every Christmas.
My son has a mix of lion knights, Romans, Gauls, Indians, Egyptians and dragon knights, but seems to be moving on to Lego, so my hopes are that my daughter will develop a long-lasting interest… For her third birthday last year, I had spent months on eBay building up a huge Playmobil play park, a mixture of old and new with every conceivable accessory, duck pond etc. She politely played with it whenever I set it up, but clearly it was too overwhelming and "finished" to really inspire her. I have now put it away and left her with an Indian family, a prince and princess, a pirate, a fairy, two babies and a handful of animals - and with this imperfect little crowd she happily plays out different scenarios.
With a history of thus overwhelming my children with Playmobil, (my son also received three huge dinosaur sets for his 4th birthday that he barely played with), I am now trying to be more strategic in my purchases, trying to find the balance between my own Playmobil needs and what will actually be played with by my children
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My great internal debate currently is whether to go with the Grand Mansion or the Suburban House for my daughters 5th birthday (yes, planning 1,5 years ahead …), not wanting to entertain the gnawing suspicion that she would probably prefer something “less perfect” than either of those… Oh, and the hotel bus looks very tempting… So, never-ending story it seems! Glad to be here anyway!
PS. Forgot to mention the latest additions to my "stash" - a DS bargain to say the least, all of the following including delivery for 179 SEK (= 20 euro): Princess Carriage 6237, the White Grand Piano, the Classic Car, Garden furniture and Royal Couple with Wedding Cake. There must have been a temporary mistake on the Swedish Playmobil site, they have since corrected their prices!
